higher mean FEF25-75 score compared with the placebo group ( p < 0.001 ). There were also significant increases in FEF50 and FEF75 . In addition , the incidence of wheeze was significantly lower ( 28.3 % vs 47.2 %).
The authors concluded that supplementing with vitamin C during pregnancy significantly increased the airway function in their offspring at 5 years of age and reduced the incidence of wheeze . They suggested that the use of vitamin C during pregnancy may reduce the effects of smoking on childhood respiratory function and health .
Reference 1 McEvoy CT et al . Effect of Vitamin C Supplementation for Pregnant Smokers on Offspring Airway Function and Wheeze at Age 5 Years Follow-up of a Randomized Clinical Trial . JAMA Pediatr 2022 .
Asymptomatic testing reduces COVID-19- related hospital admissions
Modelling studies have suggested that as many as half of all cases of COVID-19 occur through asymptomatic transmission . Consequently , mitigation strategies such as mask wearing , social distancing and restrictions on travel to reduce transmission were implemented during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic . Although many countries have introduced mass testing , often there is a lack of data on outcomes such as hospitalisations and controlled comparisons with non-mass testing areas . As a result , in the present study , UK researchers undertook mass , supervised self-testing with lateral flow antigen devices in one large city , Liverpool ( in the Northwest of England ) and compared weekly COVID-19-related hospital admissions with similar areas in the rest of England . The control areas were weighted to be similar to Liverpool based on past COVID-19-related hospital admission rates as well as a range of sociodemographic factors . The tests were made available to everyone either living or working in the city of Liverpool ( which has a population of nearly 500,000 people ). Individuals who tested positive were advised to self-isolate for 10 days and to take a confirmatory PCR test . The period of analysis was 6 November 2020 to 18 January 2021 and the main outcome of interest was weekly COVID-19-related hospital admissions .
The introduction of mass community testing was associated with a 43 % ( 95 % CI 29 – 57 %) reduction in COVID-19-related hospital admissions in Liverpool compared to the control population areas . The researchers showed that this reduction amounted to 146 fewer hospital admissions in the period up to 3 December 2020 . However , when researchers extended their analysis to 2 January 2021 , there was a smaller ( 16 %) reduction in admissions , but which still amounted to an estimated 133 few admissions . This , the researchers suggested , was because testing was more intense during the first month of the scheme . Nevertheless , they added that the study clearly indicated that mass testing was both feasible and able to identify infection among those who would not have otherwise been recognised .
The authors concluded that the voluntary and city-wide COVID-19 testing led to a large reduction in COVID-19-related hospital admissions . Adding that such large-scale testing of asymptomatic individuals could help reduce transmission of the virus .
Reference 1 Zhang X et al . Impact of community asymptomatic rapid antigen testing on COVID-19 related hospital admissions : synthetic control study . BMJ 2022 ; 379 : e071374 .
Sotrovimab superior to molnupiravir in at-risk vaccinated patients with COVID-19
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Prior to the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines , certain groups of patients , e . g ., the elderly , those with cancer or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , were designated as being at a higher risk for severe outcomes if infected with the virus . Moreover , clinical data indicated that when given to patients deemed at high-risk , with a mild-tomoderate severity infection , the monoclonal antibody , sotrovimab reduced the risk of disease progression . Similarly , data confirmed the effectiveness of the anti-viral agent , molnupiravir , within a similar cohort . While vaccination against COVID-19 has become
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